I Understand
by MusicalLovers2011
Summary: When the laughing gets too much for Troy to see Gabriella endure, he wants to prove to her that he understands. But, when he tells her, will she let him in? !TXG!
1. Welcome To My Life

**Hey Guys! It's Bluebell140 and Zanessastories1225788 here and we've decided to come together too hopefully, bring you some great stories.**

**This is our first one; we'll be sharing the writing by writing different parts of the chapter each, so it could get interesting!**

**XxXxTGTGTGTGxXxX = The end of Zanessastories1225788's section's. **

**TGTGTGTG = The end of Bluebell140's section's.**

**Anyway, without further ado, here's the first chapter, enjoy!**

Welcome To My Life

I know I'm not the same as every one else, I understand that, I don't like being this way, I didn't exactly pick to be, but it's the way I am and I wouldn't change it.

They all think I choose to be this way, that I don't understand them or what's going on around me but I do, and it hurts so, so much. But I've learnt to deal with it, to control the tears, to simply let them shout at me and tease me because they don't know the real me and lets face it, they never will.

My name is Gabriella Montez, I'm seventeen years old and I have learning difficulties. Dyslexia means my spelling isn't right and when I try to read I can't because the letters all dance around the page. Dyspraxia means my everyday life isn't as simple as yours, I find doing everyday tasks hard because my co-ordination isn't great, and although I'm seventeen, I still can't tie my shoe laces.

This is my story and the reasons why my classmates think I'm some kind of freak!

**TGTGTGTG**

She banged her fist against her locker, as she once again tried to unsuccessfully open it. She sighed, knowing this would only give her fellow students another reason to laugh at her, only this wasn't even her fault, her combination padlock was stuck, how was that her fault?

Despite all of this, Gabriella knew that in a matter of minutes one of her classmates would notice her difficulties and then, the taunting would start.

"Look! The freak can't open her locker, what a loser."

"Having trouble there,_ freaky_ Gabi? Do you need your Mummy to come and help you? Like when she has to tie your shoe laces."

"You. Just. Need. To. Turn. It. To. The. Right. Numbers. Do. You. Understand?" She hated it when they did that, talk to her like she was dumb, like she didn't understand. _They_ were the ones that didn't understand.

But still, she didn't respond. She didn't cry, or shout or try to defend herself; she just kept on trying to open her locker. But today, her locker was_ not_ playing ball.

They continued to shout, and taunt, tease and even poke her as they went about their morning routine, until the one person, one person they all seemed to respect, put a very sudden stop to it all.

"STOP! ALL OF YOU, JUST STOP! She's done nothing wrong, her locker is broken that's all. She needs your help, not your stupid remarks. JUST GO! ALL OF YOU JUST GO! THE SHOW'S OVER!"

**TGTGTGTG**

Every day he'd stand and watch them torment her, pick on her and everyday he'd walk away and do nothing about it, but today was different, today Troy Bolton was going to do something he'd been wanting to do for a very long time.

"You okay there Gabriella?" Cautiously he approached her, as the crowds quickly dispersed.

Gabriella stopped her current attempt to open her locker and leaned her forehead against it, trying her best to hold back the tears. "Just leave me alone please, I'm fine. You don't want to help me anyway, you just want to seem nice so you can do something horrible to me and then report back to your friends so they can start another rumour about me, sorry but that's not gonna happen."

"Gabriella please, I want to help you, I'm not like them, it was me who got rid of them all." Hesitantly Gabriella lifted her head from against her locker to find that the hallway was indeed now empty, apart from the odd student walking through or at their locker further down.

"Why would you do that Troy? Why do you even care? How do you even know my name? Shouldn't you be with that posse of yours?"

"I got rid of them because they shouldn't taunt you like that, it's not your fault your locker is stuck. I care because I understand, you won't believe that, but I do understand, and if you trust me enough I can prove it to you. I know your name because I listen in class, I listen when teachers talk to you and you shut them out, and my posse? I don't have to do anything I don't want to, I'm my own person and right now I want to be here with you, not being pestered by them, okay?" Gabriella nodded, knowing that if she spoke the tears gathered in her eyes would fall. "Good, so in that case, can I help you with your locker?" Gabriella nodded again and did as she was told when Troy asked her to turn her lock to the right combination and then, with a little bit of force on his part, Troy managed to get it open.

"Thank you," Gabriella managed to get out, as she took some books out of her bag and put some different ones back in. Taking a deep breath in an attempt to control her tears, she shut her locker and then turned back to face Troy.

"Hey now, please don't cry," Troy's sympathy and worry only caused Gabriella's tears to finally fall. "How about we get away from this craziness for a bit? Not out of school, just away from everyone else. We'll go speak to my Dad and he'll be able to tell Ms Darbus why weren't in homeroom, is that alright with you?"

Gabriella nodded. "I need to calm down; they can't see me like this Troy."

"And they won't," Troy replied, taking hold of Gabriella's hands and giving them a tight squeeze. "But you need to trust me and believe me when I say it's gonna be okay."

"I do, I do trust you Troy, just please get me out of here," Troy nodded in understanding and gently wrapped an arm round Gabriella's shoulders, before leading her off to the place where his Dad could_ always_ be found.

**TGTGTGTG**

Troy and Gabriella headed to the gym where Jack Bolton or Coach Bolton as he was during school hours was setting up for his first lesson which was basketball today with the 9th graders, Troy sometimes skipped out on an odd homeroom if his dad needed help setting up, today was not one of those days.

"Troy, I don't need your help to…, who is this young lady?" Coach Bolton asked as Gabriella rounded the corner looking down at the floor shyly

"This is Gabriella Montez, we need to get out of homeroom because, well I'll explain when we get home can you get us out of the rest of homeroom were going to my hideout" Troy asked his father

"Okay, but only for this once" Jack said writing them both a hall pass

"Thank you dad, come on Gabriella" Troy said grasping her hand leading her out through the doors they entered in minutes ago

They headed up to the rooftop and instantly Gabriella gasped, it was beautiful, flowers, shrubs and trees covered almost the whole of the rooftop and the view of Albuquerque was beautiful, she was awestruck with the beauty emitting from this place she had never seen something so beautiful. She sat down on the bench placed at the top of the staircase and Troy took the seat next to her

"This is beautiful Troy" Gabriella said smiling at him

"The Garden club let me use it whenever I need to get away, as long as I water the plants under shelter and check to make sure they all get enough water then I am good, it's a place I come to wined down, just have time alone to think, but you can come up here too" Troy said looking at the red tint on her now bowed head.

"Thank you Troy... you said you understand, you don't have Dyspraxia, so how could you possibly understand?" Gabriella asked concerned now.

"My little sister Olivia, she is ten, she has Dyspraxia, she looks up to me a lot, and me, my mom and dad all of us help her with her everyday things, of course you know all that" Troy said looking at her

"But still how can you possibly know, I don't just live with Dyspraxia, I have Dyslexia too, Dyspraxia means I have trouble doing everyday things, my mom has to tie my shoelaces I am 17 and still I can't do that, I type slower than most people causing me to fall behind on work, I have trouble doing buttons but I can mostly do them now I have learnt the hard way, I also have very poor co-ordination skills, I cannot catch a ball easily or bat easily, which makes playing baseball really hard" Gabriella replied all in one breath

"I know all that, Olivia is like that except she is ten so she can't tie shoelaces either way, she doesn't use the computer, and she gets easily distracted, takes her longer to finish her homework, cause she daydreams alot, I do know about Dyspraxia I have known for quite a while now" Troy said trying to prove to Gabriella he did understand though he was missing one part of information.

"And do you know anything about Dyslexia?" Gabriella asked

"Uhmm... isn't that something with numbers I think I read about that" Troy mentioned.

"It's not just numbers, it is letters too, and with the fact I have Dyspraxia too, I have difficulty writing and spelling, if you look through my books I don't write on a perfect straight line, I make alot of corrections, I even start writing in pencil so I can erase the misspelt word" Gabriella said handing him her English book as he flipped through it seeing alot of scribbles through obviously misspelt words.

"How about this, you teach me about Dyslexia, everything I need to know, and I'll make sure no-body taunts you, also we will have to get your locker looked at, but right now the bell is going to ring soon so I am gonna have to get to 1st period, but how about I meet you, up here at 12:30 for the last half hour of lunch" Troy asked as Gabriella just nodded as he ran down the stairs obviously to catch up with his friends before 1st period.

Gabriella walked down the stairs one at a time clutching onto the handrail tightly, so she didn't trip and fall down the stairs.

Gabriella exited through the heavy metal door into the half crowded hallway heading towards her 1st Period which was English. She quietly entered the room being the first there, she took her seat near the back and got out her English book a pencil, eraser and pen, so when she knew once it was correct she could go over it, she wrote the date spelling Wednesday correctly the first time, she smiled proudly and set her things down as the warning bell rang and more students entered the classroom.

"Today we will be reading parts of Romeo and juli..." Mr Markson started but Gabriella stared aimlessly around and basically just daydreamed through the whole lesson.

**XxXxTGTGTGTGxXxX**

Her eyes darted around her surroundings cautiously, as she sat on the wall of the school's fountain and waited for Troy to come out of school.

They'd met up for lunch like they'd agreed and they'd had a really nice time, talking and getting to know each other better. Troy had also told Gabriella a bit more about Olivia and happened to bring up, that although she's very bright she's behind in her subjects because she tends to drift off and block out the teacher. It was because of this that Gabriella had admitted to him that she does the same and because of this, really has no idea what happened in her English class this morning. Troy had then offered to help Gabriella understand exactly what did happen in English this morning, seeing as he'd just had the same class, Gabriella had accepted his offer of help and that was why she was where she was now.

"Hey Gabriella, sorry I'm late," Gabriella was brought from her thoughts by Troy's voice and turned to find him standing in front of her.

"Oh, hey Troy."

"So you ready to go?" Troy asked, noticing how Gabriella's eyes were constantly darting back and forth and how she had her arms tightly wrapped round herself.

"Yeah I guess, I texted my Mum she said it's fine."

"Yeah mine said it's fine as well, but only if you're sure, 'I guess' doesn't seem to me like you're to confident."

"No, yeah I'm sure, it's just I've never really had many friends before, let alone been invited round their house, it's kinda all still sinking in."

"Well," Troy said while taking hold of Gabriella's hand and lacing their fingers together. "You can let it sink in even more on the car ride back to mine, come on." Gabriella smiled and let Troy pull her to his car and hold open the passenger side door for her as she got in.

She was expecting today to be the same as any other, with teasing and taunting all day, but it had been different and she was so happy about that because although she still wasn't to sure what to make of Troy's sudden kindness, she knew he meant well _and _he'd befriended her and _that_, meant more to her than anything else.

**TGTGTGTG**

**There it is guys, our first chapter, hopefully you liked it and hopefully there aren't too many mistakes, if there are, we apologise. **

**Please make us both incredibly happy guys and:**

**PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE REVIEW! THANK YOU!**


	2. Not Alone

I Understand Chapter 2 -

So this is Chapter 2 and this is Charli AKA Zanessastories1225788 I am happy to be starting off Chapter Two I like this story already (:

XxXxTGTGTGTGxXxX = The end of Zanessastories1225788's section's.

TGTGTGTG = The end of Bluebell140's section's.

Now here is Chapter Two

**XxXxTGTGTGTGxXxX**

They arrived at Troy's just under 15 minutes later and Gabriella was still letting it sink in, Troy was being very nice to her and she liked it, she knew he knew about Dyspraxia he made that clear his little sister Olivia had it, Gabriella was excited to meet little Olivia, see how she deals with everyday activities

After getting in and sitting down at the dining table for a few snacks they got talking about school, before the front door slammed and they heard stomping feet along the hardwood floor in the hallway, they headed 3 steps up the stairs before Troy called out

"Livi?" Troy shouted from the dining room, Olivia was Troy's 10 year old sister, she was 4ft 1 and had the same beautiful blue eyes, she also had the same dirty blonde hair except hers was far down her back and stopped mid-back it was completed with two purple butterfly clips on each side

"Troy?" Olivia questioned before carefully going down the three steps and running carefully to the dining room colliding into Troy as he was about the exit

"Livi, you have to stop running, that's the third time you have run into me this week, what up?" Troy asked as Olivia's blue eyes looked up at him

"Promise not to repeat it to mom and dad?" Olivia asked she trusted her brother hugely with anything

"I Promise Livi" Troy said hugging her

"Who's that?" Olivia asked as Gabriella sat there

"Oh sorry, this is Gabriella, she has Dyspraxia too Olivia, I am helping her in English because she zones out just like you do, now you can talk with Gabriella in a little bit, she won't repeat anything to mom or dad either, so you can tell both of us, now tell me what's going on" Troy said bringing her to sit on his lap

"Well, you know it's a Tuesday and I have Physical Education so today we were doing 100m runs and as I was doing my turn one girl stuck her leg out and tripped me up, they didn't know it was a girl, a-and they all started laughing at me, even the teacher didn't do anything" Olivia replied sobbing into Troy's neck

"T-they thought I just fell over, and when they laughing I-I went and cried in the girls locker rooms" Olivia said clutching onto his neck

"Olivia it's okay, look you need to show them that you can run, and that girl was naughty for doing that, but next time Olivia if anything like that happens and the teacher does nothing, you need to tell her" Troy said hugging his little sister

"I can't Troy I trip, slip and fall over my own feet you know my co-ordination is terrible" Olivia said getting up to run away

"Olivia, mind talking to me, I have Dyspraxia I can totally understand where your coming from" Gabriella asked as softly as possible

"Okay" Olivia agreed walking over to Gabriella who did what Troy did lifting her onto her lap

"Okay so like Troy said instead of showing them you can run, you must be good at other things, like things that don't involve running, how about shooting baskets? I can shot baskets pretty easily I stand on the three point line and I learnt to shoot them" Gabriella explained

"I can't shoot baskets I always misaim and they go over the top or I am too low" Olivia said looking into Gabriella's eyes

"I can help you Olivia" Gabriella explained

So after three hours of trying to shoot baskets and Gabriella explaining on how to aim properly Olivia was shooting perfectly and Troy was over-joyed.

**TGTGTGTG**

Troy and Gabriella sat on the steps that led from the back porch and watched Olivia practise her new found basketball skills. After learning how to shoot hoops with Gabriella, Troy had taught Olivia how to dribble the ball, stop and then shoot. Because of her coordination, running and dribbling the ball at the same time hadn't been easy for Olivia, and so Troy had told her that just being able to walk and dribble the ball was amazing, and he was really proud of her for achieving it.

"She's picked it up so quickly, I could never do that," Gabriella said, spinning a flower round in her hand.

"Why?" Troy asked. "You can shoot hoops can't you? Why wouldn't you be able to dribble the ball as well?"

Gabriella shrugged. "I've tried, believe me I have, but I can't walk and dribble the ball at the same time, it just fall over my feet, lets face it, I fall over my feet when I'm walking around normally, dribbling a ball as well is a definite no no."

"I'll teach you if you like, but first, tell me about Dyslexia. It affects your reading and writing, doesn't it?"

"Yeah, I can't spell or read and so that affects my confidence in English classes. My writing isn't really very neat because I'm always concentrating so hard on trying to spell things right and make sure they make sense. I can't read very well because when I look at a page of writing the letters all seem to be jumping around and won't stay still long enough for me to read them or make sense out of them. I know that's not really happening and that just makes it really frustrating for me because I really want to read things, but I can't, and then I lose concentration and daydream and _then_ I get behind and the teachers just ignore me."

"They shouldn't ignore you Gabi, that's not fair. They should give you extra help if anything, not ignore you."

"Tell me about it. They all know I need extra help and should be given extra time, Mum's been up the school for various meetings over it all, but northing seems to make a difference."

"How about I give you some help? Like I did today with your English."

"Yeah I guess that could help, thanks Troy."

"No problem, it's the least I can do. So, everyday after school we come back here and do homework together and at the same time I'll go over work with you that you didn't understand in class. If I've got basketball practise you can either come watch us practise, wait in the library for me or you can come back here and spend time with Livi when she gets home from school 'til I get back."

"That sounds great thanks Troy, I'll probably go to the library or come back here, I've only ever been in the gym a few times for PE and that freaked me out completely 'cause I'd always make a fool of myself, and to be honest, your team mates kinda scare me."

Troy laughed. "Yeah, they scare me sometimes as well, but they're not that bad really. They don't ever tease you do they?"

Gabriella shook her and turned from watching Olivia to look at Troy. "No, they've laughed a fair few times, most people have so I'm used to that, it's mostly the cheerleaders and anyone to do with them who teases me, your team mates tend to laugh and then move on, I doubt they even know who I am."

"We'll change that when you feel comfortable to come into the gym, I'll introduce them to you and _then_ they'll know who you are, I actually think you'll get on quite well, especially if you show them your basketball skills." Gabriella smiled. "So, what do ya say? Wanna add to those skills?" Troy asked, as he picked up a near by basketball and spun it on his fingers.

"Yeah I guess so, you think Olivia will help you teach me?"

"Definitely," Troy answered, as he stood up and offered Gabriella his hands to pull her up, something she gladly accepted. "Let's go play some basketball! Heads up Livi, we're coming your way."

**TGTGTGTG**

Olivia and Gabriella worked together learning more and more as Troy taught them Gabriella was almost as good as Olivia since she had already learnt some and Gabriella was coming up fast, she now could dribble, stumbling slightly but regaining her balance easily, and shooting after coming to a stop on the three-point line. Troy smiled he helped two girls with co-ordination problems to walk and dribble a ball stop and shoot, and get that _'swish'_ each time

After another half hour all three of them sat on the hammock occupying the two huge trees off to the side of the large house all with ice cold glasses of freshly squeezed lemonade, as they chatted among themselves. Lucille Bolton came out surprised to see Troy with his sister and another young women rather than his crowd of 3 or more friends with their girlfriends, she liked the quietness which settled over the dimly lit backyard

"Troy, it's 8pm Dinner Time, You too Olivia" Lucille said knocking all three of them out of there trance

"Oh that late already, Gabriella you staying for dinner?" Troy asked

Gabriella stumbled upon her own feet, she spluttered her words she was never good around parents even her cousins, aunties and uncles she was never good around them

"You okay?" Troy asked picking her up off the floor

"Yeah, uhmm I-I'm gonna have to go, I am sorry Troy, Bye Olivia, Bye Troy" Gabriella said heading off easily Troy caught up with her in a slow jog and stopped her going any further

"Stay for dinner, I can assure you my mom isn't that evil she won't question you, and my dad never eats with us" Troy said knowing his dad ate a little later after sleeping because he had to get up at 5:30am to exercise

"Look Troy your family is lovely but I need to get home it's late" Gabriella argued

"Come on Gabriella, Please it would make my mom happy to have another person rather than all my basketball friends, there is always more than enough so it is no problem please?" Troy asked

"Fine" Gabriella said giving in without much of a fight another one of her weaknesses.

"Yes, Thank You" Troy said hugging her without thinking it which she also returned tightly he broke the hug kissing her lightly on the cheek and then hugging her again while she stared dreamingly on into the distance.

Sitting at the table Gabriella felt uncomfortable she never sat at a table at home, and having Dyspraxia, she did not like change, as soon as her food was set in front of her she picked up her fork in her right hand and her knife is her left, also the knife was upside down, the reason for this was, she never ate with people, she always ate alone, her mom was always at work and her dad, well that is a touchy subject for Gabriella

"Gabriella opposite hands" Troy said noticing Olivia holding her Knife and Fork in the same hands as Gabriella

Gabriella fiddled around trying to switch them around she dropped her knife and it clattered loudly as it hit the plate she apologised herself quietly and ended up with the knife and fork in the exact same hands as before the knife the right way this time

"Never mind" Troy said quietly which Gabriella didn't hear and she just kept eating in her own way

After dinner was successful and Olivia and Gabriella talked for a few more minutes while Troy helped his mom clean up it was 8:45pm and Gabriella knew she had to get home her mom would be home at 9pm and she lived 20 minutes away walking since she walked to school each day and walked past Troy's house early in the morning at 7:20am, and she left her house at 7am

Troy set them both in the car and headed towards her road which was a quick block away, and walked her to her door like a gentleman would, he kissed her cheek again and waited until she entered through the door and then he headed back to his car and on his way home.

**XxXx TGTGTGTG xXxX**

Gabriella couldn't believe how her day had turned out. She started today expecting it to be like any other, but it was completely different, and even as she climbed into bed that night, she couldn't wipe the smile off of her face.

No one had ever stuck up for her before, or helped her with her locker and no one had never ever taken time out of their day to teach her at her own pace, right now Gabriella felt like she was on cloud nine.

She couldn't wait to see little Olivia again, she could relate to her and she liked that. She also, for the first time in a long time couldn't wait to go to school tomorrow.

She couldn't wait to see Troy again and hopefully spend more time with him. She felt special and liked being around Troy and his family, something she didn't feel all too often.

As she set her alarm and settled down under the covers that night Gabriella realised that maybe things in her life were about to get better.

**TGTGTGTG**

So this is the end of Chapter Two, Now Guys We Need At Least FIVE Reviews on this chapter before we even think about uploading the next one we have loads of alerts so if you do review it would mean the world to us, we try hard on these and even though we both write our own parts they do take time and effort so please guys just review, and Do You Like Olivia?

Like it? Hate it? Review


	3. Because

**Here's the next chapter for you guys, hopefully you'll enjoy and review!**

**End of Bluebell140's sections = TGTGTGTG**

**End of Zanessastories1225788's sections = XxXxTGTGTGTGxXxX**

**Because**

Walking down the halls of East high at the beginning of lunch time, Troy smiled at how great his morning had been.

He picked Gabriella up and taken her to school and then helped her with her locker when they got there, not giving the bullies the chance to do or say anything to her. They'd gone to homeroom together and then he'd walked her to every other one of her lessons and met and she came out from them, apart from this one.

Troy had had basketball practise and it would take him a little longer to leave because he'd need to shower up after wards and so he wouldn't be able to pick Gabriella up from her lesson. She'd assured him that she'd be fine and that they should meet at her locker before going to the canteen for lunch.

This was why Troy was now heading down the corridor that lead to Gabriella's locker. Turning the corner he found her there, busying herself in her locker, seemingly putting things away.

"Hey Gabi, you ready for lunch?" Gabriella didn't answer Troy's question and he just assumed she hadn't heard him.

"Gabi? I said are you ready for lunch?" When Troy again got no response he became a little concerned.

"Gabi? Are you ignoring me or something? Are you alright?" Gabriella again didn't respond, but did stop what she was doing and just stood still, Troy took this as a sign that she_ did_ know he was there.

Troy placed a gentle hand on her shoulder and turned her round to face him, only then noticing the tears, silently making their way down Gabriella's cheeks.

"Hey now, Gabi what's up? Why are you crying?" Gabriella again didn't respond, but moved forward and leaned against Troy, wanting to hide from the rest of the student body around them, not wanting them to see that she'd finally snapped.

"Gabi, talk to me sweetheart, what's going on? Why the tears?" Gabriella only responded by shaking her head against Troy's chest, indicating to him she didn't want to talk.

"Okay sweet girl, let's get you out of here. Do you need any of your books that are in your locker tonight? Or is everything in your bag?" Again, Gabriella didn't respond, but moved back from Troy and picked up her bag, wrapping her arms around herself after shutting her locker, now feeling more open to the elements of the school corridor. Troy took her actions of shutting her locker of her being done, so gently he wrapped his right arm round her shoulder and pulled her close, leading her through the corridors towards the gym and the one person he knew would be able to help them in getting out of school early.

**TGTGTGTG**

They entered the gym and were met with that stench of sweaty bodies, Troy spotted his dad coaching a group of what seemed to be freshmen students as they were quite young and hadn't yet built up there physique.

"Dad, over here one minute" Troy shouted as he dad blew his whistle and then jogged over to the two. 

"What's up with Gabriella?" Coach Bolton asked as Gabriella buried her head further into Troy. 

"She just is crying, she won't talk to me we need to go somewhere where we can talk" Troy explaining rubbing her back softly.

"Troy this is the last time, you cannot keep skipping school now go home and I expect you to stay a whole day in school tomorrow with or without Gabriella" Jack said sternly as he wrote them passes to go home.

They got outside and that's when Gabriella uttered a word

"Last Lesson" Gabriella said and Troy knew what that meant.

_Flashback_

Gabriella was sat in the only lesson she has without Troy, he has Gym and she assured him she would be fine but as she tried to assure herself of that, more people entered the classroom, in this lesson she has no-one to stand up for her. She sits in the back of the class trying to stay out of everyone's way, the lesson went by fine until she needed the toilet, she asked and got a hall pass, as she walked up a lot of people tripped her, or simply just kicked her ankles discreetly, one boy shouted some names out but she blocked them out, she went to the bathroom and then headed back to class, again she got kicked and tripped. The last past of the lesson went by un-eventful she was happy to see Troy that was until she headed up and didn't notice the big boy 2_nd__ to front row stick his foot out and she tripped forwards and landed right on the floor, everyone laughed she just got up gathered her things and left, silently wishing the tears to not fall._

_End flashback_

They arrived at Troy's and Gabriella held onto him as he led them in, she sat down on his couch and cuddled into him wishing the tears she felt to not fall, but they did and it was not long before Troy felt the tears soak the bottom of the t-shirt he wore and he pulled her in closer to him, letting her cry.

Her tears subsided and she sat up straighter wiping the lone tears that fell as she explained to Troy why she was crying.

"Who tripped you at the end of class?" Troy asked anger bubbling inside him.

"Luke Jacobson" Gabriella replied trying to make sure that was the right name.

"Right, tomorrow he is gonna pay" Troy said punching his fist into the palm of his hand.

"No Troy, please don't enter into it, I have lived with this for a while now, I can stand up for myself, I am a big girl I have learnt to just take it and ignore it, which is easier than it is, but soon I will be able to just block it out" Gabriella said as she smiled softly at him.

"Gabriella we have a project soon in Family Living, I was thinking we could do a project and show everyone how it is to live with Dyslexia and Dyspraxia what do you say?" Troy asked as Gabriella started speechless at him. 

**XxXxTGTGTGTGxXxX**

"Aaaggghhh, I give up," Gabriella shouted, as she pushed her pencil and paper away from her across the table and put her head down onto it, not wanting to tell Troy what was wrong.

"Hey now, you can't give up," Troy said, as he walked out onto the porch after getting them some drinks. "What's wrong?" He asked, as he placed the drinks down on the table and sat back down next to Gabriella.

"Doesn't matter anymore, 'cause I give up," Gabriella said her head still on the table causing her voice to be muffled.

Deciding it was probably best to let her calm down for a bit, Troy picked up her piece of paper to see if it gave him any clues as to what had gotten her into this state. Looking at her paper he found little bits of rubber everywhere and a large scribble over Gabriella's last bit of writing, indicating to him she had gotten frustrated.

"Don't look at that, its rubbish," Gabriella said causing Troy to look up from her paper.

"It's not rubbish Gabi; you just had some trouble with spelling?" Troy asked, wanting to help Gabriella, but not wanting to push her at the same time.

Gabriella nodded, as Troy came and sat back down next to her, putting her pencil and paper onto the table in front of them.

"I was trying to spell 'because' but I couldn't do it," Gabriella told him softly, as she picked up her pencil and started to rub out her scribble.

"You should've just waited for me to come back and then asked me for help."

"But 'because' is an easy word to spell and I can do it sometimes, I didn't want you to think I was really thick." Gabriella said, as she ducked her face away from Troy.

"You're not thick Gabriella and don't you ever listen to people who say you are, you just have trouble spelling, that isn't your fault. I'm not great at geography, but that isn't my fault either. We all work best at different things, that doesn't make us stupid okay?" Gabriella nodded. "Good, now pass me your pencil and a new piece of paper and I'll show you a little way I remember how to spell 'because' and how Livi does it as well."

Gabriella handed Troy her pencil and a new piece of paper and watched as he wrote something down. When he slid the paper back in front of her, there was one line written on it:

_**B**__ig __**E**__lephants __**C**__an __**A**__lways __**U**__nderstand __**S**__mall __**E**__lephants _

"How does that help?" Gabriella asked, not completely sure why Troy had written a sentence about elephants.

Troy smiled. "Look, if I take the beginning letter from each word:"

_**B-e-c-a-u-s-e**_

"What does it spell out?" Troy watched Gabriella study the words carefully and then smiled when her eyes widened with realization.

"It spells 'because' those letters spell out 'because'," Gabriella said, smiling widely.

"That it does," Troy said, his smile matching hers. "So now, every time you need to spell 'because', you just remember that little saying and you're away."

"Thank you for helping me Troy," Gabriella said, as she copied out 'because' onto her piece of paper.

"It's alright, it's how I was taught to spell it at school, it's how Livi remember so spell it as well, so I though it would probably help you as well."

"And it did, so thank you," Gabriella said, finally finished with her notes for the presentation.

"It's not problem, honestly Gabs, just next time you need help with something just ask okay?" Gabriella nodded, as she took a sip from her drink. "Good, now what do you say we go practise our basketball skills before Livi and Mum get back from school."

Gabriella smiled and shot up from her seat, running off the porch and onto the court before Troy had even had a chance to move. Laughing he followed her over there and sneaking up on her from behind, tickled her, loving the melody her laughter seemed to create.

**TGTGTGTG**

**There it is guys, we hope you liked it!**

**As always, please review, it means soooooo much!**


End file.
